Gran Pulse
by Fleetfiend
Summary: Aqua travels to Gran Pulse in search of Vanitas. Two locals join her in her search.
1. Chapter 1

It was starting to rain. But they didn't mind. They had a job to do, and they were going to get it done.

Fang and Lightning were hunting for their group. Since they were stuck here on Pulse, they decided to make camp for awhile. To figure out what to do next. And since they planned on staying for a few days, food was at the top of their priority list.

They also decided to send Fang and Lightning alone. Everyone there needed their rest; but those two were more accustomed to roughing it. Lightning had been in the Gaurdian Corps Bodhum Security Regiment for several years and was used to the militarist style; Fang often had to fend for herself when spending time in the wild when she lived on Gran Pulse long before.

They had people to feed. So there they were, on their bellies in the grass of the Archylte Steppe, beginning to feel the dampness through their clothes, silently stalking a giant Behemoth King about twenty yards away.

The conditions were ideal. They were downwind, and the rain covered up whatever scent made its may to their mark. The beast was at the pond, drinking, and maybe thinking about finding some food for itself by the looks of it. Fang and Lightning shot each other a glance. Wordlessly, they let themselves know that this was the perfect moment to strike; they could sneak up on it easily. Fang's hair was sticking to her face and Lightning's clothes were clinging to her body in a similar way. You know what they say: the best work their hardest when their conditions are at their worst.

Almost simultaneously, Fang and Lightning rose to a crouch, weapons in hand. Slowly, they began to make their way towards the predator-turned-prey. As they approached, the monster showed no sign of a reaction. They kept up their steady pace, sure of their success as they drew closer and closer.

Then, without warning, the Behemoth looked up towards the sky. Showing fear that was unusual for its species, it turned, completely ignored the hunters, and fled.

Lightning started to chase the beast, turning on her heel and taking off, but stopped when she realized that Fang wasn't doing the same. She turned back again, to see Fang crouched low on the ground, looking into the air.

"Wha-" Lightning began, but didn't finish her thought after she saw what Fang and the Behemoth had seen.

In the sky, coming closer, was what looked to be a winged Cie'th... like a Nelapsi, or a large Penanggalan. Realizing that they were probably in danger, Fang and Lightning got ready for a fight. Fang changed her role to a Saboteur, and Lightning stood her ground as a Commando. As the figure got closer, they realized that they had been right about the size, and maybe the shape as well. But this thing was different than anything they had ever seen.

The object zoomed toward the ground and came to land about sixty yards away from them in the open plain of the Steppe, They still couldn't quite make out what it was. Ignoring the rain and advancing in a semi-cautious jog, they made their was toward the phenomenon. They had made it about halfway across the distance between them when they saw something they didn't quite expect; a person in full-body armor stepping off of the object. Then the figure held out their hand, and their mount transformed into what looked like a giant key in the figure's grasp.

Fang and Lightning slowed, unsure of what to think about what they were seeing. But before they had much time to ponder over it, the character noticed them with a snap of his/her attention. Without hesitation, the figure started after them in a full-blown sprint, key wielded like a weapon. Fang and Lightning regained their composure, and waited for the person to approach, weapons at the ready.

The figure grew closer and closer, and with every step Fang and Lightning grew more and more anxious for a fight. But just as the person was almost in fighting range, it jumped, clearing both Fang and Lightning with ease. The pair turned, surprised. But the figure wasn't attacking them from behind. It brought it's weapon down on a small, blue monster unlike anything that either of them had seen before. The monster seemed to evaporate at the touch of the blade.

The figure - which now that it was closer, they could see was feminine - turned, unwavering, to face Fang and Lightning. Then the armor disappeared, revealing a beautiful, blue-haired girl. She began to speak, unhindered by the rain.

"You should really learn to watch your back," she said, releasing the odd-shaped blade in her hand. It disappeared.

Thinking of nothing else to say in reply, Fang simply put her free hand on her hip and said, with an inquisitive look on her face, "Who are you?" Lightning stood and waited for her reply.

"I'm Aqua," she said, with a quick smile, "You?"

"Fang," Fang said, her accent thick in her voice.

"Lightning," Lightning said, with a touch of hesitance and maybe contempt.

"Well Fang, Lightning," Aqua said, gesturing to them both in turn... but she didn't get the chance to finish her thought. Fang swung her lance back to an aggressive stance, and Lightning did the same. At first Aqua thought they were challenging her, but then she heard the monstrous growl coming from behind her.

Summoning her Keyblade, Aqua spun around to face whatever was approaching her.

Apparently the Behemoth that Fang and Lightning had been hunting came back once it realized that there was no danger. And now it was angry.

"Go!" Fang said, and at once all three girls leaped into action. Fang began battering the beast with Deprotect and Deshell, attempting to lower it's resistance. As soon as she saw they were successful, Fang switched to Commando and assisted Lightning with attacking it head-on. At first, Aqua wasn't sure what to do. She just stared calculatingly at the Behemoth's mostly-blue hide, large teeth, metallic spikes, and odd, flowing horns. But then it charged at her and snapped her out of her trance.

She jumped to the side and out of the way. Then she aimed her Keyblade at it's back and used her focus. She aimed her Shotlock directly at the Behemoth King, letting it charge as the beast flailed while trying to attack both Fang and Lightning at once. It charged to the max, and Aqua let it loose. She felt the ice build around her as the Absolute Zero attack caused her to rush toward her target. Shards of ice erupted from the ground, and the Behemoth yelped in pain. The attack ended, and Aqua landed next to Lightning.

For a moment, Fang stared at what had happened with her mouth open, unable to fathom what Aqua just did. When she brought her attention back to the Behemoth, she saw that it was getting weak. Lightning did too.

"Here it comes... get ready," Lightning said to the other two. Fang nodded. Aqua looked at her, confused. But she wasn't confused for long.

The Behemoth King flashed in an odd light. Then it stood up on it's hind legs, drawing a sword as long as it's enormous torso. Aqua looked at the horrific creature with a determined stare. It was terrifying. But she wasn't scared. And neither were Fang or Lightning.

The two of them advanced on the monster with practiced perfection, Aqua following their lead. Again changing to a Saboteur, Fang attacked the monster with repeated uses of Deprotect and Deshell. Aqua started by using Thunder attacks, but when she realized she was only healing it, she switched to Fire and Blizzard (after also finding out that it was immune to Aero).

Drawing up, the Behemoth appeared to be charging up for something. Not knowing what to expect, Aqua simply kept battering it with spells. Quick as a whip, Lightning switched out for Medic when she saw what was happening.

"Brace yourself!" Lightning yelled, mostly to Aqua, since Fang already knew what to expect. As if on cue, the beast released his attack with a monstrous roar. Thundaga rained from the sky, shocking all of the girls so that they could barely stand up. Recovering as fast as she could, Lightning cast Cura to help get the trio back on their feet.

Feeling slightly rejuvenated, Fang switched back to Commando and began using Ruin from a distance, still feeling weaker than she would have liked and now wary of the raging beast. Aqua was equally cautious, and used simple spells to keep up her strength. But Lightning was able to quickly heal all of them - occasionally being set back by more of the Behemoth's antics. When everyone seemed suitably healed, she changed to a Ravager to try and knock the Behemoth King off of his feet. She spammed it with Flamestrike and Froststrike until - with the combination of the three's attacks - the beast was staggered.

"Give it everything you've got! This brute is ours!" Fang yelled, laughing, to her partners. All three of them (Lightning back as a Commando) hacked and slashed the Behemoth to pieces, knocking it into the air and slamming it down into the ground. In moments the beast was dead.

Gasping for breath and laughing in celebration of their victory, Fang sat down on the ground.

Lighting turned to Aqua. "So... I see you're a Ravager," she said, "and a skilled one at that."

"Um... Ravager?" Aqua said, her head cocked slightly to the side.

"Magick user." Lightning said, blatantly.

"Oh," Aqua said, "Well, thanks I suppose."

Fang stood up. "Yeah, that ice charge... I've never seen anything like it."

Aqua was starting to get embarrassed. So she changed the topic. "What were you guys doing out here?"

Fang was about to answer, but Lightning interrupted and said, "I was about to ask you the exact same question. And what the hell were those things we were almost attacked by?" she paused, "Neither of us had ever seen anything like them." Fang propped herself up on her arms behind her and looked at Aqua, waiting for an answer.

Aqua nodded, understanding how odd it would be for a stranger to show up like she did, and how strange the Unversed would seem from another's perspective who had never seen them before.

"To answer your first question," she started twirling her Keyblade in her hand, "I'm here looking for someone. I felt the presence of darkness here," she looked off into the distance, "and I stopped to look."

"The creatures you saw are called the Unversed." She was going to stop there, but she continued when she saw the confused looks on the others' faces. "I'm not yet exactly sure where they come from. All I know is that they need to be stopped. And that's why I'm here. I'm looking for the person who may or may not be controlling them."

Both Fang and Lightning took a moment to take in what they heard. Then Fang spoke up. "Well, I haven't seen anyone else strange here. Lightning?"

"The same."

"So I suppose there's not much we can do to help you," Fang said,standing up. The three of them stood there for a moment in silence. Then they remembered the Behemoth.

"But I suppose you could help us get some of this back to camp," Lightning said, "the rest of our group is surely getting hungry by now."

Aqua nodded and smiled."I'll be glad to help," she said, "and besides, maybe one of them knows something."

"There's only one way to find out," Fang stated. Together, the trio began to gather up what could be salvaged from the beast, and took off towards Base Camp. Fang and Lightning were concentrating fully on carrying their significant loads. But all Aqua could think about were her friends. And the mission that was both bringing them together and pushing them apart.

_I won't let you down._


	2. Chapter 2

Fang, Lightning, and now Aqua - carrying what they could salvage from the Behemoth King - made their way across the Archylte Steppe. They had almost made it back to Base Camp, and the rain was faded away, leaving the kind of heat that made your breaths heavy and your steps slow. Aqua wasn't exactly used to carrying such heavy loads over such a long distance, but she managed as well as she could.

Fang stopped and looked up at the sky, and smiled at the sight of the sun breaking through the clouds. Cocoon loomed behind them.

"The rain. It looks like it's lightening up," she said, smiling at the still-moist air above her.

"It's about time," Lightning said, grabbing a handful of her shirt and wringing it out. It didn't help much.

"Are we getting close?" Aqua asked, taking a few deep breaths while she had the chance.

Fang turned back around and smirked in Aqua's direction. "Yeah. Just through this crevice in the rock up here. There's a large rift in the center. It's called Vallis Media."

"Thank goodness," Aqua said under her breath, so neither Fang nor Lightning could hear.

They kept walking, and began going through the crack in the cliff. It was dark - so dark that Aqua couldn't see a thing, except for the dim amount of light coming from the top of the crevice a hundred feet above. But Fang and Lightning knew exactly where they were going, and Aqua followed the sound of their footsteps.

Before long, an opening began to appear in the direction that they were heading. At first it seemed extremely bright, but their girls' eyes adjusted by about the time they emerged out the other side.

The second that they did, a tall, dark-skinned man ran up to Lightning and Fang, only sparing Aqua a quick, suspicious glance. There was another group - a pink haired girl and a tall, blonde guy with a hat and trenchcoat, along with the dark-skinned man - that were standing in Fang and Lightning's small camp as if they were getting ready to do something or go somewhere.

"Fang, Lightning," the man said, urgently, "it's Hope. He's gone. We sent him and the chocobo to go and look for some food in case you guys didn't get any, and they haven't come back. They should have been back an hour ago-"

"KWEEE! Kwe-kwee! KWEEEE!"

Everyone turned to see what was making the tiny racket. A little yellow bird was flying full-speed toward the dark-skinned man, coming from another trail further down the ravine.

"Chocobo!" he said, going to meet it. He cupped the cute bird in his hand.

"Kwee kweh!" the chocobo was tweeting, fluffing up it's yellow feathers, violently trying to get it's meaning across.

"Sazh?" Lightning said. "What is it saying?"

"I... I don't know," Sazh said.

The smaller ginger-haired girl skipped up to Sazh, looking over his shoulder at the little Chocobo. "Oh no!" she said, with an accent similar to Fang's, "Hope fell unconscious near the river. We have to go get him!"

The blonde man crossed his arms over his chest. "You're sure, Vanille?" Vanille turned to look at him and nodded.

Aqua, who had been completely ignored up to this point, dropped her load and summoned her Keyblade. Everyone but Fang and Lightning jumped back in surprise, seeming to notice Aqua for the first time. The chocobo squeaked and flew up to nestle in Sazh's thick hair. "Well, let's go! I don't know who exactly this 'Hope' is but I assume he's a friend of yours? If he's just lying there unconscious, who knows what could happen to him?"

For a moment, everyone stood in wonder at Aqua. Lightning was the first to speak up. "She's right." Lightning tossed her head, throwing her hair out of her face. She faced the others. "Sazh, Vanille, Snow... you three stay here and hold our camp, just in case. Fang and Aqua," she said, gesturing to each person in turn, "you guys come with me. Let's find Hope."

Aqua nodded. The others were still looking at her in confusion. She waved, with a bit of a shy smile creeping across her face.

Seeing Aqua nodding, Fang did the same. "Let's go."

With no further hesitation, the three of them took off down the path that went down the ravine, the Chocobo Chick squeaking good luck sounds to the girls. Sazh sighed, and Snow sat down on the ground, angry that he had to stay behind. The trio didn't look back.

After a few minutes of brisk walking, Fang, who was leading, slowed before coming to a full halt.

"Wha-"

"Ksst," Fang interrupted Aqua's question with a silencing sound, and a palm in her direction. Aqua looked at Lightning. She simply pointed at the brush in a small opening ahead of them in the chasm.

At first, Aqua didn't see anything. Then a large yellow mass made it's way into view. It looked like an enormous blob of pudding with a terrifying smile.

"Dire Flan," Lightning quickly whispered to Aqua.

"We _are_ going to catch this one by surprise," Fang said, referencing their "sneak attack" on the Behemoth King. Aqua was oblivious. "On my mark, we advance. Follow me."

Lightning and Aqua followed her, as she said, to crouch behind a large rock. Then Fang told them to take alternating positions, after telling them to focus mainly on Magick attacks. Then they waited. But not for long.

The Flan, slowly but surely, turned it's back towards the trio to do something or other in the opposite direction.

"Now," Fang mouthed to the other two. Both of them nodded in unison, then the three of them took off towards the monster in a crouching run. The poor thing didn't see them coming.

Lightning, who had been closest and got in attacking range quickest, struck the Flan with Flamestrike. Shocked, the pile of ooze turned to face them as quickly as it could manage. But before it made it all the way around, Fang and Aqua began battering it with there own magic attacks. With the element of surprise on their side, the girls had monster quickly staggered and consequently killed.

Aqua looked on in disgust as the thing melted into the ground.

"Well," she said, "that thing was gross."

Fang and Lightning laughed. "Sure was," Lightning said.

They wasted to time in their endeavor. Fang peeked around the corner in the direction they were heading, to see what might be obstructing their path. "Looks like there're more. A lot more."

Aqua and Lightning looked around the bend to see what Fang was talking about. Sure enough, there was a large group of what seemed to be evil flower-like things floating around in the more shaded area of the corridor.

"Alraunes," Lightning said. The girls prepared to attack.

The pattern of observe, plan, and attack repeated itself an indefinite number of times while the three of them made their way down the crevice in the rock. Aqua, who had never been an area even similar to this before, was starting to wonder if it would ever end. But, almost immediately after the thought came to her mind, it opened up to reveal a bigger space, full of light. There was a small river flowing through it, and a young, white-haired boy was laying on his back on the ground, seemingly asleep.

"Hope!" Lightning exclaimed, running straight for the unconscious boy.

"Lightning, wait!" Aqua said, trying to stop her. But she got away, and skidded to a stop besides Hope.

She was probably planning on checking on him, but she was shockingly interrupted. Quite surprisingly to Fang and Lightning, the space on the other side of the river began to writhe in some kind of black light. Out of the unnatural darkness emerged a huge group of Unversed; two Mandrakes, a Chrono Twister, a Wild Bruiser, three Yellow Mustards, two Archravens, and a Vile Phial. It was one of the largest groups Aqua had seen in a while.

Lightning and Fang were taken aback; Lighting more so since they were almost upon her. With no hesitation, the horde of beasts attacked.

"Attack the Chrono Twister first!" Aqua said, summoning her Keyblade in preparation for attack.

"The what?" Fang asked, almost hysterical with a kind of confusion almost unknown to her.

"The hourglass!" Aqua said before taking off to help Lightning, who had just jumped over Hope and smashed her gunblade into the head of an Archraven. It was only slightly stunned, and it continued circling the air above, staying just out of reach.

"Hnn!" Aqua sounded as she spun in the air, putting as much force as she could in her attack on the Twister, after realizing that Lightning didn't need help for now. A not-so satisfying chink rang through the air as Aqua barely scratched the glass.

Taking Aqua's advice, Fang whipped her spear from her back and ran into the battle. She started attacking the monster that Aqua was, but was rudely interrupted by a hulking, ape-like beast that ran and slid to block her path. It was a Wild Bruiser; tall and red and angry. Realizing that trying to get around it was pointless, Fang engaged the Bruiser. Staying as a Commando since there was little room for anything else, Fang lifted her spear above her head to hit the ape, hard. But, as dumb as the beast appeared, it saw what she was trying to do. It intercepted her spear, grabbing it with one hand and lifting Fang off her feet. But she refused to let go.

"Lightning!" Fang yelled, hoping to get her friend's attention and maybe get rescued from her current situation.

"Coming!" Lightning said, rushing to Fang's aid. She was currently a Ravager, and she decided to focus on Strike attacks. Leaping up so she could reach the Bruiser's arm, Lightning hit it near the elbow with Sparkstrike.

The Bruiser yelped and immediately dropped Fang, who hit the ground hard. Recovering as quickly as she could, she stood and popped her shoulders. "Ow," she said.

Meanwhile, Aqua was battering the Chrono Twister with an endless foray of attacks. She used both Magick and physical attacks, and it was looking like the Twister was just starting to weaken.

She leaped into the air, using Blizzard Edge and hoping to defeat it. But at the last moment, the Twister disappeared, teleporting out of her reach. The attack hit empty air, and the momentum caused Aqua to stumble. In her peripheral vision she saw the Twister start to twitch, then it stopped. After it released the attack, a large circle of dark orbs appeared and began to revolve around her.

Knowing what was going to follow, Aqua stood up and jumped back and forth, hoping to get her timing right to avoid the attack. But luck wasn't on her side, and the orbs collided into her as she landed on the ground.

She winced in pain and cringed onto the ground; the attack had done a lot of damage. Then she heard a small jingle in above her... it was a Vile Phial. After a moment of jingling, it was surrounded in a green aura before transferring its power to the other Unversed. It healed the Chrono Twister. Aqua cursed under her breath, helpless.

After helping Fang, Lightning turned to help Aqua. She quickly changed into a Medic so she could heal her from the Twister's attack. Running up to her, she cast Cure as quickly as she could before switching back to Ravager to attack.

Lightning had seen the small monster that had seemed to heal the other one. Thinking it would be best to get it out of the way first, she ran a little closer to it and used Thunder. After it hit and stunned the Phial, she hit it again with Froststrike. The tiny bottle-shaped monster cracked and fell to the ground before disappearing. As Aqua stood up, Lightning turned to help her kill the Chrono Twister. But to neither of their knowledge, the trio of Yellow Mustards were approaching them from behind.

Fang was still engaged with the Wild Bruiser. She saw an opportunity to strike when it cringed in pain from Lightning's Sparkstrike.

She was preparing to attack, when suddenly a thrashing... something hit her calf, and it hurt. She looked in the direction where it seemed to come from - she wasn't worried about the Bruiser attacking her at the moment - to see what had attacked her.

About ten yards away were two little, green, plant-like things stuck halfway into the ground. Mandrakes. Fang watched as the leaves on top of one's head started spinning, produced sharp spinning object, and flung it in her direction. The other did the same; timing it so it would be hardest to avoid.

Since Fang saw it coming, she knocked the spinning blades away with her spear. The Mandrakes were too far away to effectively attack. She didn't want to leave the Bruiser for too long. She figured that it may be a bad idea, but she decided to ignore the Mandrakes for now and focus on the Bruiser. It was hurt, after all; it may be approaching defeat. She jumped again into the air, and while it was still distracted, Fang whapped it upside the head with her spear.

The Bruiser, which had been writhing in pain a moment ago, came to full attention after Fang's unexpected attack. The ape began to jump around; then its face turned red, and it ran after Fang, its arms thrashing and anger radiating through the air.

Knowing that any attack wouldn't do a whole lot at this point, Fang turned tail and ran, occasionally looking over her shoulder to see how close behind her the beast was, and if it showed any sign of stopping. It didn't.

In all the confusion, Fang almost completely forgot about the Mandrakes. And in doing so, she began to look over her shoulder more and more often, increasingly worried about what would happen if the Bruiser caught up with her. It was one of these moments when one of the Mandrakes let loose it's flinging blades with precise timing; to land directly upon Fang's right angle.

Fang winced in pain as she was tripped, tumbling to the ground with a thud. To her horror, the Bruiser didn't stop his advance. In a split second, it was upon her, its powerful arms colliding with her body. In another second, she had fainted.

For the time being, Lightning and Aqua were caught up in their own battle. Though the Twister was almost defeated, there were the other Unversed to deal with. Aqua was the one who noticed the Mustards attempting to flank them, so they managed to dodge their powerful attacks. And there were, of course, the Archravens; always there, but never close enough to attack. In all the melee, the two girls didn't notice what had happened to Fang.

Lightning was occupying herself with the Mustards. They weren't very powerful enemies, as long as you saw them coming. After only an Aero attack and a few Froststrikes, the first of the three was defeated.

Aqua was still focusing on the Chrono Twister. The Phial didn't heal it too much... but just enough to be incredibly annoying. Because of her frustration, she decided to commence with a new attack plan.

Putting her left hand on her good luck charm, Aqua started thinking of Ventus. After a moment, a bright light surrounded her, causing Lightning to look at her in shock. After a few more seconds of surges in power, the light around Aqua dissipated, and she was left feeling faster, stronger, and ready to fight.

Lightning could tell there was something different about her. Something that made her think it was someone else. But she didn't complain, because Aqua began beating down on the Chrono Twister with flurry upon flurry of powerful attacks.

Aqua began by using Blitz; jumping to attack, repeating three times, then hitting the Unversed monster with a more powerful attack to send it flying. Then she used Sliding Dash to bring herself back close to it before hitting it a few more times. After noticing that one of the other Yellow Mustard and both Archravens were approaching her, she used Aerora to send them all flailing away to crash into one another and the ground.

After her quick bash with all the Unversed, Aqua could feel herself getting closer and closer to Ven. She felt her power - his power - surging through and around her, getting stronger every second. When it grew to a peak - and the Unversed were starting to recompose themselves and prepare for another attack - she let it all loose.

Aqua became surrounded by an aura of power, and her whole body shot off like a bullet; directly towards the Chrono Twister.

She hit the monster hard. Then she raced upwards, and back down to ram into it again, and again. Barely able to control herself, she flew towards some of the other Unversed as well; an Archraven, the Mustard... and once, the Bruiser. Suddenly, she rose into the air, slowing. Aqua felt the power begin to fade away, and she came to land on her feet among the carnage her attack had caused. Lightning stood and watched - her mouth slightly open - dodging the occasional Mandrake attack that swept across the ground at her.

The Chrono Twister had been defeated by the Air Dive, along with one of the two remaining Mustards in the process. One of the Ravens was heavily injured.

Aqua smiled a little, looking around to see what was left. In doing so, she saw Fang; blacked out and flat on her back, not too far from where Hope was still laying.

"Lightning!" she said, simply pointing in Fang's direction.

Snapped out of her short daze, Lightning jumped into action. Her gunblade in a battle-ready stance, she took off to where Fang was laying, and where the Wild Bruiser was still shambling around, startled by Aqua's attack and wondering what to do next.

Lightning switched her role to Medic in mid-stride. Hoping the Bruiser wouldn't notice her for awhile, she rushed to Fang's side. As fast as she could, she cast Life on her friend. She was lucky enough to make it before the Bruiser realized what was going on.

Fang gasped awake. Her eyes snapped open, and she shot up to a sitting position. After realizing what had happened, she looked at Lightning, muttered a hurried "Thanks," and stood up to engage the Bruiser once again.

Once Fang regained her stance, the Bruiser saw her, and immediately turned its attention towards her. Before it had the chance to do very much, Fang attacked.

She began to jump up as if she was going to try and hit it like she had done before, but it was a feint, and at the last moment she slid downward and hit the Bruiser hard across the knees. It let out a roar in frustration at her clever maneuver, and brought its fists up in the air to pound the ground in fury.

Fang attempted to leap out of the way, but the waves of power coursing through the ground caused her to lose her balance and fall. The Bruiser was quick to react. It shambled up to her and hit her with its large fists, sending her flying.

Though it certainly stung, Fang jumped back up to counterattack. Her spear whipped around and she ran straight for the Unversed brute.

The dumb brute fell for it again. But this time, Fang struck with an even deadlier force. Again she jumped, this time unbelievably high in the air above the Bruiser and the Archravens; one of which had been hurt earlier by Aqua. Spinning upward like some sort of furious bird, Fang finally reached the highest point of her leap. She turned around in mid-air to face the startled enemies below her. Then, sliding her sharp spear under her so it's fatal edge faced the ground, she fell back down.

With blinding strength and speed she lunged for the ground, the Wild Bruiser directly in her sights. It only took a moment before she struck; she hit it head-on. A wave of power erupted from the point her spear hit, damaging the already-weak Archraven and causing the Mandrakes to startle and pop out of the ground. The Bruiser was defeated immediately, and the other Unversed were thoroughly shaken.

After the Highwind attack, Fang glanced at Lightning with a look that almost said, "See? I've got some tricks up my sleeve as well." Lightning smiled and nodded.

All that was left were the Mandrakes, an injured Mustard, and two Archravens, one of which was already close to defeat. The three girls all shot off at once; Lightning to the Mandrakes, Aqua to the two injured enemies, and Fang to the other Archraven, ready to help the others if necessary.

Lightning had little trouble with the pair of Mandrakes. They had yet to latch back into the ground after Fang's Highwind, so they were like sitting ducks. She changed to a Ravager before splashing through the water to reach them. They began to float above the ground, covered in a poison purple mist; their final defensive maneuver. Lightning kept light on her feet; jumping around the creatures and casting the odd spell to damage them. However, she wasn't fast enough; one of the Mandrakes snuck around her while she was casting Fire on the other, and touched her with just enough energy for her to feel the poison running through her veins.

She gasped a little in surprise at the feeling. But Lightning reacted quickly, swinging her blade around to hit the enemy that had infected her, flames flowing around her blade in a sheath of burning power. Her Flamestrike was a direct hit. The Mandrake fell to the ground before melting away into darkness. And once the first was gone, the other one was dispatched quickly and cleanly in a similar manner.

Aqua had an even easier time; the injured Archraven was killed with a single Aero attack, and the Yellow Mustard was defeated after a few strikes of her spinning Keyblade.

Fang had some trouble getting the other Archraven in attacking range. But once she hit it for the first time, she had it in her grasp. She barraged it with a multitude of jabs and lunges, nearly tearing it to pieces with her spear. Needless to say, the Archraven soon fell to the ground in a pile of feathers and flesh. After a moment, it disappeared, along with Lightning and Aqua's foes.

With all of their enemies defeated, the three of them turned and walked simultaneously to where Hope still lay on the ground. Fang arrived first, followed by Aqua, then Lightning.

On her way over, Lightning once again switched her class to Medic. Focusing on Hope, she cast Life, like she had on Fang. Nothing happened; Hope didn't budge.

"Well," Fang said, swinging her spear over her shoulder, "looks like we're going to have to carry him. Lightning?" She glanced at Lightning. She was staring off, her hands on her hips. "Aqua?" Aqua looked away and pretended she didn't hear.

Fang sighed. "Fine. I'll probably do a better job anyway," she muttered.

Fang took a step closer to Hope. She leaned over him, wrapped her arms around his waist, and threw him over her shoulder.

"Damn, this boy is heavier then he looks," Fang said as she started to walk back in the direction from which they had entered the clearing. "Are you guys coming, or what? We need to get him back to camp, fast-like."

Lightning was the first one to follow, and Aqua wasn't far behind.

Hope, being upside-down for the most part, looked kind of ridiculous. His hair was askew, and his tongue was hanging crazily out of his mouth. Aqua laughed. "He looks so peaceful..." she said, teasing Fang about her discomfort.

"Can it," Fang said, "or I'll can you." She looked back at Aqua, smiling to show that she was joking.

Lightning smiled, and Aqua laughed again.

The three girls began to make their way back to Base Camp, an unconscious Hope swung over Fang's other girls were struggling to keep up with her.

Behind one of the bushes dotting the path, a shadowed figure sat and watched. The girls' skills were impressive. They passed his test with flying colors. But now, it was time for the real challenge. With an evil laugh, he turned and walked through a shadowed portal leading to a place that no one would want to guess.


	3. Chapter 3

The journey back to Base Camp was in many ways similar to the journey there from the Archylte Steppe, except for the fact that Fang was the only one with a significant load. But she didn't complain; in fact, she raced ahead of the other girls. For awhile, Lightning and Aqua struggled to keep up.

Since the monsters on the trail were for the most part cleared out, the trio faced little opposition. The three of them made their way back to Base Camp in record time.

The rest of Fang and Lightning's group was sitting around a campfire that they seemed to have just started. It was beginning to get dark. The Chocobo Chick was the first one to notice the girls' return.

"Kwe-kwee! Kwee!" the bird chirped happily, gesturing towards Fang, who was nearing the others. Aqua and Lightning were several steps behind her.

Snow, Vanille, and Sazh (the chocobo nestled in his hair) stood up immediately, seeing that Hope was still unconscious. Fang handed him partly to Snow, and the two of them set him down by the fire as gently as they could manage. Lightning crouched down next to him, putting her hand on his forehead. No reaction. Then she pinched his arm. Still nothing. She drew her arm back to slap him awake...

"Lightning!" Vanille said, stopping her.

Lightning shrugged in indifference. "Worth a try," she said.

"I wonder what happened...?" she said, moving closer so she could get a better look. But nothing was out of the ordinary... not a hair on his head seemed out of place.

The chocobo again peeked it's head out of Sazh's hair.

"Kwee! Kwe-kweh-kwee kwee!" it chirped knowledgeably. It continued tweeting for a few seconds. The majority of the group was completely oblivious to the meaning of it's bird-sounds, but Vanille was listening intently. When it was done, Vanille nodded seriously, and turned to the others to translate.

"The chocobo says that everything was going fine at first. Then a strange-looking boy in a black mask appeared out of nowhere. Hope tried to attack him, but was defeated before he even got close to the stranger." Vanille paused to listen to the rest of what the chocobo had to say. "The little guy left before the boy seemed to notice him, and he came back here to us."

Aqua let out a small gasp of surprise, but no one noticed.

Fang looked incredulously at the bird. "Couldn't you have let us in on that before we went looking for him? That man sounds dangerous."

The chocobo's wings and beak drooped. It acted like it was going to try and say something else, then gave up and shrugged as well as a baby chocobo could.

Sazh reached his hand up to pat the bird on the head. "Aw, don't make it feel bad," he said, "it helped as much as it could. And you guys did rush off pretty fast..."

Fang rolled her eyes. Aqua tried to help herself, but a giggle managed to slip out of her mouth. Everyone's looked at her.

"What?" Snow asked.

"You!" Aqua said, her small fit laughter dying down. "You guys are good together. It's easy to see that you guys have a strong bond with each other. Like a big family." Aqua thought of Ventus and Terra when she said that, and paused. "I miss mine..."

"That reminds me," Lightning said, "you never really told us in depth about how and why you are here. Now seems like as good of a time as any to elaborate."

"I agree..." Snow said, "Sorry if I sound rude, but it's a little suspicious. I mean, you show up, and then this happens with Hope..."

"I hate to say it, but he's right," Lightning said, flipping her head at Snow.

` Snow crossed his arms and sighed at Lightning.

Aqua smiled and nodded. "I understand," she said. "but all I can really say is that a few close friends of mine and I got separated. There's someone who seems to be pursuing one of my friends. He also seems to be the one controlling those monsters that we saw by the river." Aqua paused and took a breath. "That's all that I can tell you. I'm sorry. I can understand if you don't trust me. I can leave, if you wish."

There was a moment of awkward silence. Then Vanille, who was standing next to Sazh on the opposite side of the fire from Hope, spoke up. "I believe you, Aqua," she said, "I get the feeling you're telling the truth."

"I agree," Fang said, "I mean, if you were out to get us like everyone else seems to be, you've had many chances to harm any of us. And you didn't. And anyone that's had my back in a fight is right by me."

Snow, a serious look on his face, sat down by the fire, staring into the hot embers. He raised his eyebrows before turning his head towards Aqua.

"I'm sorry... Aqua, was it?" he asked with a slight smirk, "That's not quite enough info to get me on your side. We have too many people chasing us... there's a big risk. I hope you understand."

"I do," Aqua said, "that just means I'll have to get a chance to prove it."

"I suppose," Snow said, looking back to the fire.

The rest of the group - Aqua included - settled around the flames in a similar way, huddling closer and closer as night began to fall. Hope still showed no sign of movement. The group said nothing for hours; all of them staring into the mesmerizing glow of the blaze. Aqua felt more and more out of place every minute. She knew there was something that they weren't telling her. She had no idea why people were "after" them, or if she should be as suspicious of them as they were of her. But she said nothing; only wondered in silence like everyone else was seeming to do.

"Guys," Sazh said, jolting everyone out of their trance, "what do we do next? I know we've gotten a bit distracted by Aqua and Hope here, but we have something important to think about. Our time is running out. And so far, there hasn't been a single sign of life on this cursed planet. No offense," he gestured towards Fang, then Vanille, who both had an offended expression on their faces, "but I'm really starting to think that we would have been better off on Cocoon. It's a miracle we're still alive at all. We're lucky to have made it this far."

Aqua was thoroughly confused by his words. But the rest weren't. Vanille stood up and walked forward.

"...Sazh, there's still a place where we haven't -" Vanille was interrupted, unexpectedly, by Hope.

"Oerba. Fang and Vanille's home. Where the Pulse fal-Cie lay dormant. The answers we're looking for might be there."

"Hope!" Fang, Lightning, and Aqua all said in unison as the three of them rushed to his side.

"...Who is that?" Hope said, pointing to Aqua. She smiled weakly.

"Aqua, a new friend of ours," Lightning said. Snow snorted.

Hope gave her an odd look, as if he wasn't sure what to think. So, for the time being, he mostly ignored her.

"Fang, Vanille... you know the way, don't you?" Hope asked.

"Yeah," Fang started, "and it's a tough journey from here, it is. But I think we could make it without too much trouble."

"Yeah," Hope repeated, "If you go on without me."

Everyone was surprised by his words. "But Hope," Vanille said, crouching next to him. He started to try and sit up, and she helped. "There's no way we could just leave you like that."

"Yes you could. And you should. You've taught me how to fight. I can do well enough on my own." Hope tried to stand up, but his knees gave out. Snow was the one to catch him.

"You don't have to," Snow said.

"He's right. No one here is alone." Lightning said.

Hope furrowed his brow in frustration. "But all I can do is slow you down or get in the way or get hurt. You have to hurry; you have no time to babysit me, I know." Hope pushed away from Snow. "I know that eventually something bad could happen because of me. Because of getting in the way. I don't want anyone to get hurt." Hope cupped his head in his hands. "And...and you have Aqua now. She's surely a better fighter than me. She'll do more good for the group," Hope said, his voice beginning to break, "It would be better... better for everyone if I stayed behind."

As Hope said that, something strange happened. An enormous yellow light erupted from his body, forcing everyone away. Beams of the light shot towards the sky, illuminating the area for miles with their glow. Hope seemed to be yelling in pain. No one knew what was going on; all they could do was stand and try to shield their eyes.

As if on cue, a tall boy in a dark mask appeared from a source of darkness similar to the ones the Unversed had come from. He silently raised his arm towards Hope.

The light, which started off as a bright yellow, became shrouded with tendrils of darkness. The shadows slowly spread, enveloping everything it touched. Eventually it reached Hope. He was no exception to the shadows' advance.

"Hope!" Fang and Lightning yelled, running towards him. But they couldn't get close because of the light; the light and power radiating from it was just too strong.

Aqua seemed to be the only one to see the masked boy. And as soon as she did, she identified him. It was Vanitas.

She sped off towards him as fast as she could. Her keyblade appeared in her hand as she ran, making a movement to attack Vanitas as she approached. But he just stood there, nonchalant. When Aqua got closer, he put his hand down, job finished.

Aqua jumped towards Vanitas, slicing her Keyblade through the air in front of him, perfectly aimed. But the moment before her blade struck, Vanitas vanished. The only sign left of him was his maniacal laughter, echoing through the camp and in Aqua's mind.

Growling, Aqua turned back around to see Hope. The darkness around him began pulsing and flowing, running up the paths of light leading towards the sky. Before long, every ounce of the light was converted into darkness.

The shadows met in the air above the group, imploding into a flash of power. From the epicenter of the collision emerged something monstrous; an enormous autonomical being. It hit the ground with an earsplitting thud, shaking the ground with its massive strength. It sent Snow, Vanille, and Sazh flying, but Fang, Lightning, and Aqua stood their ground.

Joints creaked and cogs turned inside the gigantic machine that was towering before them. It's plating was golden in color with spots of rust. It seemed like a beast that had once been something greater, but had been corrupted by something evil. Its humanoid appearance added to its humility. But the girls weren't deterred by its sorrowful manor. Mainly because of its glowing red eyes, and the emblem of the Unversed that was emblazoned on its chest.

Hope, still engulfed in shadows, collapsed onto the ground.

Lightning, Fang, and Aqua rushed forward to confront the Unversed and protect Hope from it.

"What is this thing?" Lightning yelled.

"I'm not sure," Aqua said, "but I know it's been tampered with. And I know that it needs to be stopped!"

"I heard that," Fang said, whipping out her spear. "Charge!" she announced, running straight towards the monster.

Her attack was successful; the Unversed didn't even try to counter or move out of the way. It didn't need to. With a clank, Fang's spear simply bounced off the leg of the beast, throwing her backwards with opposite force and leaving nothing but a scratch.

After assessing what happened, Lightning thought of a better strategy. "Fang!" she said to get her attention, "switch to Sentinel. Aqua and I will focus on attacking it with magic, and healing each other. Okay? Aqua? Let's go."

Aqua and Fang nodded in acknowledgment of Lightning's plan. Fang changed to a Sentinel like Lightning suggested. But before she could Provoke the Unversed, it raised its giant fist and smashed it down, hitting Aqua hard. She was flung back and yelled out in pain, but recovered fairly quickly and prepared to hit the monster with her magic. The shockwave also damaged Lightning and Fang, but only slightly.

As soon as she saw the chance, Fang used Challenge on the humanoid mechanical beast, and instantly she could tell that it worked. Since Fang was fairly close to the monster, it had to take a step back to see exactly where she was. It looked down upon her, and it was surprisingly easy to see the fury in the robot's eyes. It brought up its fist again, but the moment before it struck, Fang activated Entrench. She held her spear in front of her, and it acted effectively like a shield. When the beast hit it, the force from the blow pushed Fang back, but she was mostly unharmed. She also had her Fringeward ability active, and because of that, her allies took much less damage from the wave of power radiating from the Unversed's attack; they were barely shaken.

Fang, who was still holding back the monster's fist, glanced at Lightning and Aqua and gestured for them to attack. They took off immediately, the two of them splitting up to position themselves around the beast to cover as much space as possible, and to confuse it and restrict its movement. Lightning stayed back as well as she could, using only long distance magic attacks. She was mainly hitting it with Water, and the attack seemed pretty effective, so she decided to focus on that.

Aqua, on the other hand, took a slightly more close range approach. She ran around behind the Unversed, and jumped as high as she could to hit the monster in the places that she thought would be most damaging. She cast her close-range magic like Thundaga and even Mine Square. She continued to batter it with as much firepower as she could while she had the chance. The robot didn't even seem to notice; it was completely focused on Fang.

After the monster withdrew its fist, Fang was quick to counter with a hit from her spear on the hand of the beast as it was drawing away. It didn't seem too stunned; but it did seem more angered. Fang went back in to Entrench; she sensed it was about to attack again. She was right.

The Unversed brought its arm back again, but this time, it was doing something different. It hit Fang from a different angle; with a devastating uppercut.

Fang was caught by surprise. If she had seen it coming, she might have reacted better; but as it was, she was sent soaring through the air, to land hard on her back. She felt weak, but she forced herself to stand up. She didn't have time to try and heal herself, so she just used Mediguard in preparation for the mech's next attack.

It only took moments for the attack to come. The Unversed drew back and hit Fang again, amassing all of its strength into this one blow.

The difference in force behind the attack was enormous. Fang was again caught off guard - so to speak. Again her spear absorbed a large portion of the attack, but another large portion of it tremored down her arms and drained Fang's energy. But she made it through, and she was healed quite a bit by Mediguard.

Lightning and Aqua were still hacking and casting away at the monster. It seemed like they were starting to have an effect. Its plating was scarred and burned, as well as damp in the joints. But being a machine in nature, it was difficult to tell exactly how much damage had been done.

Fang withstood yet another of the Unversed's attacks, and was healed again; less this time. It wouldn't be long before she ran out of the strength to put up with any more attacks.

"Guys!" Fang yelled as loudly as she could through her gritted teeth, "I can't last much longer!"

"Coming!" Lightning and Aqua yelled at the same time. Lightning took off to help her friend, and Aqua wasn't far behind, ready to cover Lightning if the need arose.

But then something happened that no one saw coming. As soon as Lightning and Aqua ran into the monster's line of sight, the effects of Fang's Challenge wore off, and it turned its attention to them, identifying them as the bigger threat. Since they were a little ways away, the beast decided not to pursue them directly. It braced itself on the ground, its legs like pillars of unmovable resolve.

Propping up its right arm with its left, the Unversed began resonating with the unmistakable sound of something winding up. There were grinding and clicking sounds mixed together with screeching and electronic ones. Fang realized what was happening, and started to warn her friends.

"Look out!" She yelled. But it was too late. The monster's entire fist shot away from its wrist.

The Blast Punch came at Aqua and Lightning with blinding speed. Both of them saw it coming and tried to jump out of the way, but it was just too fast. The giant mass of a hand hit them both and pinned them to the ground.

Lightning tried to wrench her way out from under it, but it was immensely heavy and she didn't budge. Aqua was even worse off; almost her entire body was caught under the mechanical fist, and she was having trouble breathing.

As Fang began to run past the Unversed to try and help her friends, the fist made a loud clicking noise. Then it exploded, sending shrapnel, fire, and Aqua and Lightning flying in opposite directions. Both of them hit the ground hard, and seemed virtually unresponsive; they were barely moving.

Fang was slowed a little by the explosion, but she quickly started to take off again in Aqua's direction, since she was closest. But the enemy was a step ahead - almost literally. Swing itself around as best as it could, joints creaking, it lifted its leg above the ground and positioned it directly over Fang. As it came down, it pinned her leg to the ground with so much force that pain clouded her perception.

Fang was screaming in agony, and both of her comrades were close to unconsciousness. The giant that was holding Fang down looked down at her in some sort of victory stance. Its hand that had been shot at Lightning and Aqua was beginning to reform, and it was now rearing its other arm back to put and end to Fang and her squirming before turning to the others.

Hope's eyes opened, and the first thing he noticed were the stars. Then he noticed the nearby light, then the sounds emanating from a shot distance away. Creaking, and an explosion. Then screaming. Fang's screaming.

The Unversed was ready to attack. Fang, Aqua and Lightning were helpless. The rest of the group was in no position to help. It seemed that everything was over.

Then Hope's boomerang, whistling as it sliced through the air, slammed into the back of the mech's head. Startled, it whipped its head around as fast as it could to see what new enemy had assaulted him. To its unmarked surprise, there was no one there.

"Hey genius!" Hope yelled from the direction that the monster had already been facing.

The brute turned its head back around, tearing something in the process, which began to emit a spark from the base of its neck. Hope caught his boomerang, which flew around the Unversed to reach him. The beast shifted its right shoulder and pointed its fist - which had fully regenerated - at Hope to try and knock him off of his feet with another Blast Punch. But Hope realized that he was only fighting a machine; and machines have systems. And systems can be beaten.

Hope threw his boomerang once again, aiming it so that this time it made a large, open loop around his foe. Just as he had planned, the machine identified the 'rang as a threat and turned its sights on it instead of Hope. It spun its torso as much as it could to try and keep up with the spinning object, and eventually shot its charged attack; missing it and hitting the wall of the ravine in which their Base Camp was set, exploding and sending boulders and rocks flying.

The Unversed seemed utterly confused at what was going on. But Hope was not. He jumped in the air so he could catch his weapon as quickly as he could so he could launch another attack. He had spotted what seemed to be a definite weak point in his enemy's defenses.

Hope threw his boomerang with practiced aim towards the point where the robot's arm met its torso; there was a large gap that had broken through its armor, and Hope could see the glisten of water lightly dampening - but not damaging - the Unversed's circuits. Thinking on his feet, he changed to a Ravager, focused his energy, and cast Thunder on his own weapon. It worked just the way he had planned; he could see the tendrils of electricity running along the length of his boomerang.

The Boomerang struck its target with precision. The moment it hit the water-logged wires, the electric power enveloped the entire body of the now-helpless Unversed beast. It spasmed around as the lightning made it do things to itself that it wouldn't naturally be doing. It twitched and twanged, the power of the electricity burning the air. After long moments of tortured malfunctioning, the giant monster stopped moving. With a few more short spasms and sparks, it fell backwards with a gigantic thud on the ravine floor. The Unversed began to melt away, and as it did, a strange sort of peace seemed to take place over the violence that had embodied it earlier. It seemed to be happy that it had been set free.

Hope switched his role to Medic so he could heal his friends. Since Fang was the most prominent one - for all her painful screeching - he decided to heal her first. After her pain was relieved, she stood, took a deep breath, and patted Hope on the shoulder. "Good job, kiddo," she said, and walked with him as he healed the others.

Aqua and Lightning were quick to get around once they were fixed up. Aqua looked around, and noticed that their adversary was gone.

"What happened?" she asked, keen to hear about what force could have defeated such a foe. As she said that, Snow, Sazh, and Vanille all emerged from their watching places to hear what was to be said.

"It was all Hope," Fang said, as Snow put his arm around the boy, "he did it all. He figured out how to distract the beast, and found its weakness. It seems he's stronger than he thought."

Lightning and Aqua smiled in his direction.

"I... I guess I did, huh?" Hope said, shy, but also proud.

"Yeah," Lightning said, "looks like you did."

Hope looked up towards the glittering stars. Everyone else began talking about what had happened, why it happened, what he did. But he ignored it all and went to put more wood on the fire before sitting down by it and looking up again at the celestial bodies above him. "Maybe I am something more than I thought..." he said too quietly for anyone to hear.

Aqua yawned, stretching her arms above her head. "I don't know about you guys," she said, "but I'm officially exhausted."

Lightning nodded in agreement. "Seconded," she said.

"Well, I'm not sure what that weird guy was doing here," Snow said, and corrected himself at Aqua's surprised glance, "yes, we saw him. But I'm not asking. It's time to sleep now, for all of us."

Aqua smiled at him in a sort of thanks. And at that, the seven of them began to settle in their places to rest. Only a few words were said among them. Fang held back, purposely slowing, trying to catch Snow alone to ask him something in private. And right before he laid down in his designated area, she put his hand on his shoulder, getting his attention before sitting down next to him.

"Snow," she said, "I have something to ask."

He looked at her with an almost expectant expression on his face. "Yeah?" he asked.

Fang looked away from him and into the fire, looked back at him, and asked, "Why didn't you guys help us? I know were capable. But you just watched," she pointed out. "Why?"

Snow smirked a little. "Isn't it obvious?" he said, and seeing it wasn't, he continued, "It was Hope's time to shine." He looked over at the boy, who was sound asleep. "Goodnight," he said, laying down and pretending to have passed out as well.

Fang nodded and looked into the sky, thinking. She thought about Aqua, Hope, and a little about Snow and what was going on in his head. It was another hour before she went to sleep, sitting and staring into the vast unknown.

The sun didn't appear over the edge of the chasm until about eleven. Since everyone was exhausted, no one woke up until then. But when the harsh rays of the sun finally did appear, everyone simultaniously began to stir, and then stretch. In only a few minutes, everyone was up. Hope was first and foremost, jumping up and even fetching the water to put out the smoldering embers of the fire. Fang was the last, but she wasn't far behind.

Lightning was leaning on a piece of ancient machinery on the outskirts of the camp, thinking to herself. No one said much; they just got ready for whatever was waiting for them in the new day. Aqua was the first one to start a real conversation.

"Guys," she said, everyone's attention shooting to her, "You know I have to follow him. The boy who made that monster from Hope."

Lightning uncrossed her arms. "'Course," she said, "he's the one you're looking for, isn't he?"

Aqua nodded. "And I'm almost positive he left after what happened last night."

Sazh's chocobo peeked its head out of his matted hair. "Kwee?" it chirped, questioningly.

"I have to leave soon, if I'm to catch him," Aqua sadly stated.

Snow made a hmph sound. "Good riddence, I say," he said.

"Snow!" Vanille said, briskly walking over to him and stomping on his foot.

"Ow!" he said, "What? I was just kidding!" Everyone gave him a skeptical look, but they were mostly paying attention to Aqua. But there wasn't a whole lot more that she could say. Instead, she hit the switch on her arm, and she was covered by her armor.

"Kweee!" the chocobo urgently chirped, flying over to her and landing on her shoulder. It seemed that it didn't want her to go.

Aqua giggled and picked up the bird in her hands. "I may be back one day," she said, patting it on its tiny head. Then she tossed it into the air so it could fly back to Sazh.

"Good luck," Lightning said, pusing away from the structure to walk closer to her new friend, "I hope you find him and give him whatever he deserves."

"Yeah," Fang chipped in, "don't let him get off easy. We all saw what kind of bad things he could do."

Aqua nodded, but no one saw the happy expression on her face through her helmet. "I will." She summoned her Keyblade and tossed it into the air, and everyone watched as it became her Glider. "And good luck to you as well; whatever it is you're looking for." Aqua jumped onto her vehicle.

Fang and Lightning nodded. And with that, Aqua began to rise in the air. When she gained the appropriate height, she took off breathtakingly fast, quickly becoming no more than a glimmer in the distant sky.

Lightning walked over to Snow, who now seemed mostly indifferent to the girl who had come and now left without a trace. But she didn't say anything, just looked at him for a moment before turning to the others, who were all about ready to leave for Oerba.

"For the record," Snow said, seemingly to Lightning and Fang, "... I think you girls were right about her."

Lightning turned, smiled, and walked over with Fang to prepare for the rest of their journey.


End file.
